Canon automates its sales force with I-can

Gaurav Patra / New Delhi

Canon India has implemented I-can software provided by FCS. The company is using this software to manage its sales force in an efficient manner. This software provides timely information about customer requirements to the sales force. “This is a communication platform. We have positioned this in our company as an intelligent link between front office (sales team) and back office (support team),” said Rajesh Kumar, assistant director—Projects and Solutions, Canon India. In the first phase, Canon has implemented the software in India and in the next phase this will be implemented at other Asian locations like Thailand and Malaysia.

This software also helps the management to keep track of the day-to-day activities of the sales team. “This works as a communications backbone between sales and support teams. The front office provides the information to the back office and the back office can also send their suggestions to the front office,” said Kumar. Apart from this, the system also keeps a track of all orders, complaints registered by customers, etc. It also allows the sales force to work from remote locations and they can also conduct virtual meetings with the help of this software. Before implementing this software, the company had reviewed a number of similar software packages. Kumar said that cost was one factor, which went in favour of FCS. “When we were looking for the software, most of the other software packages available in the market were Web-based. That forces the user to be online for a very long time. But this was not the case with FCS and this software can replicate the entire data,” said Kumar.

With the help of this solution, a manager can now manage more sales people and it has also helped in increasing the productivity of the team, said Kumar. The software is running on the Lotus Notes platform and the central hub at New Delhi is connected to the seven branch offices and the warehouse through a leased line. As a back-up, they also have an ISDN line in place.